The Missing
by CirqueDuFreakFan
Summary: Harrys 7th year at Hogwarts, what can go wrong, does! Ron is...Dead? Ginny is missing? The train gets in a wreck? Whats going on these days? Theres a transfer student? How does she tie into all of this?
1. Morning at the Dursleys

Harry Potter woke with a start one morning to find his scar burning like fire. He cupped his hands over the lightning bolt shaped scar. It was that tiny scar that made him famous; it was that tiny scar that made his life a living hell; it was that tiny scar that everyone stared at when they met him.

He sat up in bed, this was his 7th year at Hogwarts, he was 17 and after this year he would be gone from the Durslys forever. Never to be treated like pond scum or ignored again. 'I can't wait till this year is over!' he thought to himself. 'I will be rid of the Durslys!'

A sharp tapping on the window made him jump; looking out he saw a bright white owl looking at him through the glass, her amber eyes focused on him. He got up and opened the window for her.

"Hello Hedwig! Did you catch anything?" he whispered. Hedwig nodded and started to eat the dead mouse hanging from her left talon. Harry smiled as he crawled back into bed; he looked over at his calendar, one more day until he would leave this horrid place and go to Diagon Alley to get all of his school supplies for his last year.

He kept thinking about it, it made him more and more sad. It was Hogwarts that made his life worth living, Hogwarts that got him away from the Durslys, Hogwarts that taught him about his past, parents, and what will be his future.

He lie back down and fell asleep almost instantly, his hand reached up and scratched his scar then fell back down to his side.

_Beep BeepBeep_

His eyes snapped open, and then shut again; the sun was shinning brightly in his eyes. His hand shot out and shut off his alarm. Then he remembered that today we were to leave to London. He got dressed then raced downstairs and into the kitchen almost plowing Dudley over.

"Uncle Vernon?" he asked. A grunt answered him. "I'll be needing a ride to London today." Since Harry was 17 he could legally do magic outside of Hogwarts, and the Durslys knew it too. Vernon grunted again and Harry took that as an OK.

Smiling, Harry grabbed some bacon out of the frying pan and raced up stairs to pack his already somewhat full trunk. He made a list of what he needed to get: New quills and ink, books of course, new robes, his were getting short; he had grew a few more inches over the summer. He thought about what else he would need; he thought he would treat himself to a new backpack; his was getting torn in the stitches, and maybe an ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.

He wandered around his room checking every nook and cranny for lost items. When he was sure he has everything, he levitated his trunk down the stairs and to the door. He sat down on it and awaited for his Uncle to drive him. This would also be the last time his uncle had to drive him anywhere, because he would be learning to apparate this year, and Harry was very excited about this. His thoughts were interrupted when he saw his Uncle come down the hall, car keys in hand. Harry, again, levitated his trunk and walked out the door after his Uncle and packed it in the car.

Uncle Vernon drove fast to London and dropped him off; Harry unloaded the trunk himself and barely closed the door, when Uncle Vernon sped off leaving Harry coughing in the dust.

Harry brought his trunk inside the Leaky Cauldron and set it down inside the door. He went up to the front desk and rang the bell, a few seconds later, Tom the innkeeper appeared.

"Harry Potter! How are you my boy?"

"Hello Tom! I will be needing a room for the next few days." said Harry.

"OK." He grabbed a key and motioned for Harry to follow him. Harry grabbed his trunk and clambered up the uneven stairs after the innkeeper.

He opened room number 27 and handed Harry an ancient looking key, then disappeared from sight. Harry threw his trunk down at the end of his bed and flopped down on the creaky old bed. He got up, rummaged through his trunk, found his money and went down stairs, out of the pub, to drift along the streets. He looked in shop windows and slowly made his way to Gringotts to fill up his money bag.

Twenty minutes later he walked out of Gringotts, his pocket heavier then when he walked in. He made his way over to Quality Quidditch Supplies to see if they had gotten anything new. He looked around and purchased some stuff for his broom. He then made his way over to the ice cream parlor and bought a sundae. While sitting outside eating it five chairs pulled out beside him.

"Hello Harry!" A bright red headed girl was smiling at him.

"Hey Ginny, Fred, George, Ron, Hermione." He nodded to each in turn.

"All done shopping?" asked Fred.

"Almost, I've got to get new robes, my books and some ink and quills."

"We can go with you, I have a few more things to pick myself." said Hermione. She picked up some of her things and walked with Harry, Ron, and Ginny into the nearest store to buy quills and ink.

"That's OK, me and Fred got to get back to work anyway!" yelled George. "Gits." He muttered. Then walked back to their shop and the end of the street.

An hour later Harry had all of the items he needed for his last school year. "Oh, I can't believe that this is out last year!" said Hermione as they walked back to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Yeah, it only seems like yesterday that _we_ were getting sorted." sighed Ron.

They walked in silence up to Harry's room and sat down and talked some more.


	2. The Train Ride

As it turned out Ron and Hermione were to be staying at the Leaky Cauldron, too. They got the rooms on either side of Harry. The next few days flew by; they spent a lot of time exploring Diagon Alley, and hanging around in Fred and George's shop trying out new items.

Finally, September 1st rolled around and the Trio was as ready as they would ever be, to board the train and head to Hogwarts. The trip to the platform was, as it usually was, uneventful. They said good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and soon boarded, got their trunks on the train, and found a compartment.

"We better make this trip memorable." said Ron.

"What should we do to make this memorable, Oh great one?" joked Harry.

"Well, first we could- Nice Harry" Ron burst into laughter.

"HARRY!" snapped Hermione. Harry quickly withdrew his index finger from his nose.

"What?!?! I'm trying to make this trip memorable....I am going to tickle my brain and find the gold that's up there!" he declared. Ron, who was already laughing hard, rolled around and fell to the compartment floor, clutching a stitch in his side as tears fell from his eyes.

"Calm down Ron." Said Harry.

Ron sat back down on the seat and dug around in his pockets just as the food trolley came by.

"Anything off the trolley dears?" she asked.

Harry bought a large amount of Chocolate Frogs and they spent most of the journey watching the frogs jump around and swapping the cards inside.

About half way through the trip the train started to shake violently, throwing them from their seats, Crookshanks who slept the whole way, was now sitting in his basket spitting.

"Ouch, Ron! You're on my hair! Ouch! What's happening?" Yelled Hermione.

"Ah, Oh! Sorry, I don't know, make it stop!" They all screamed. "I'm blind! I'm blind! Am I dead?!"

"Where are the lights?" yelled Harry, steadying himself on one of the seats.

"I don't know! Oh, I don't want to die!" said Hermione, starting to panic.

The lights flickered on and Harry saw that Ron was huddled in the corner of the compartment and Hermione was supporting her elbow.

"What happened?" asked Ron

"Hermione are you ok?" asked Harry crawling over to her.

"I should be." She replied as Ron came over to her, helped her up into her seat, and sat next to her.

The train had stopped shaking, but everyone on the train was out of nerves.

"What was _that?!?_" yelled Ron.

Just then a voice came over the loud speaker, and they covered their ears.

"This is your conductor speaking, and we are experiencing some problems with the train, nothing to be afraid of though, we will-"

"This is very not good!" said Hermione, trying to open the door. "Oh no! It wont open!" she tugged harder and harder at the door, it wouldn't budge.

The lights flickered once more and the train started to move. They sat in silence for a long time, still shocked at what happened.

"I feel bad for the 1st years." said Harry.

"Yeah me too, they must be scared beyond belief!" said Ron.

Hermione sighed.

All of a sudden the train started to rock back and forth, then there was a loud grinding noise and the train started to speed of the tracks and into the woods, knocking over trees as if they were toothpicks. Finally it came to a halt with a jolt and the trio was thrown forward. The motion was so strong that the train flipped over onto its side, and everyone was thrown into complete darkness.

Hermione opened her eyes to find herself covered in blood and dirt, her whole body was sore. She looked around her and saw Harry and Ron sprawled out, about 5 feet away from her. She crawled over to them and checked that they were all right. They were alive but unconscious.

Hermione looked around, the sight was unbearable, her class mates were sprawled everywhere. The sight mad her sick, taking a deep breath she fainted.

Hermione was being shook as she opened her eyes and saw Professor McGonagall's worried face. "Miss Granger, I need you to help us get the other students up and see if there's anything broken or that needs fixed."

"Professor? Oh, what happened? I feel like I got hit with a ton of bricks."

"Just be glad that's all you feel like. You're OK, nothing is broken or fractured, just some minor bruising." She said as she walked off to help other students.

Hermione got up and went over to Ron and Harry. After them reassuring her that they were OK, she went off to other students.

Once everyone had been checked over by the seventh year students, they started to make their way into groups where portkeys were waiting with staff to bring them to the entrance of Hogwarts.

Hermione was one of the last to leave the site of the wrecked train, looking back see saw a sight that made her stomach drop, a green symbol above the train at the far end, shaped like a skull with a serpent. She looked around to see if anyone had noticed the symbol, but it appeared that nobody had. She looked at it once more and saw that behind a tree, a dark cloaked figure was watching her. At first she thought it was Snape, but she had an uneasy feeling that it wasn't so she turned on her heel and ran to the group.

If she had stayed a little longer she would have seen a friend of hers, and maybe she could've been spared.


	3. The Note

The school walked in silence up the path to the main doors and quietly took their seats at their House's table.

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table, two screech owls appeared. One flew down and landed in front of Hermione, the other in front of Draco Malfoy.

Hermione opened the parcel and discovered a pin with the initials HG on them. A cheer from the other side of the hall came from Draco who had a pin too, only labeled HB.

"Congratulations Hermione! You're Head Girl!" said Parvati and Lavender, hugging her.

"Thanks." Said Hermione, dumbfounded.

"NOOOOOO! Not her!" Draco's shouts carried through out the hall. Hermione knew that he just found out that she was the Head Girl. For some reason she did not seem happy about being Head Girl.

After Margaret Zoller was sorted into Hufflepuff, Dumbledore stood up and the hall got quiet.

"After the train incident today I am glad to know that nobody was hurt. We are still trying to figure out what happened. We think that it was some kind of dark magic, but not to be alarmed, the teachers have taken roll of the students in their house, and-" Professor McGonagall whispered something in his ear, "Oh dear, Um, I have an announcement to make, It seems as though one of our Gryffindor's' is-" he paused and cleared his throat, "missing." Chatter came from all directions. "I am sure that all of you are wondering who is missing, that information will not be released until later, now I want you all to have a nice feast then head up to your dormitories for a good nights rest, lessons will begin, as usual, tomorrow." He clapped his hands and the plates in front of them filled up immediately, Ron dove in head first. Hermione didn't touch her food, but merely walked up to the high table and whispered something in Dumbledore's ear. She walked back to the table unnoticed and sat there staring at her food. A thought dawned on her, the same one on Harry; he tapped Ron on his shoulder.

"What?"

"Ron, where's-"

"Ahem, I have talked it over with the teachers and they think that you have a right to know who is missing, I will also let you know that our suspicions have been confirmed, this was done by dark witches or wizards." Everyone gasped. "The student who has gone missing is..." He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and said, "Ginny Weasley."

It was dead silent in the Hall, there was a clatter of china and a crash as Ron's fork fell to his plat and his goblet smashed into the plate. Every head turned in his direction. Ron sat up from the table and ran from the room. Harry looked at Hermione and followed him. Since Ron's legs were longer he had a better advantage. He didn't stop running until he reached the north tower. He fell to the floor in silent tears. Hermione sat down nest to him to comfort him and Harry on the other side. They sat in silence for what seemed like hours.

They heard hurried footsteps and looked up and saw Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Dumbledore.

"Of all the places you chose the North Tower." said McGonagall. She knelt down and with the help of Professor Snape helped Ron up.

"Harry, Hermione, I would like it if you two returned to your common room." Said Dumbledore.

"Albus, maybe, it _would_ be better for him to cope with if he had his friends with him."

"Headmaster, are we sure that Potter and his friends will not get into trouble once they are alone like every other year?"

"Severus, I trust them, OK, you may stay with Mr. Weasley." said Dumbledore and Snape frowned.

He glared at them as they left, then walked briskly back to his office.

When he reached his office there was a note on his desk, he stared at it curiously. He reached out to pick it up, but something told him not to open it. Ignoring that feeling he reached out and grasped the envelope. Everything seemed normal, so he opened it, and started to read:

Severus,

We have the girl. We did our part, now its time to do yours. Get Harry Potter and make the trade. He won't want anything to happen to his little girlfriend.

Make the trade at midnight tomorrow; send your reply that you got this with the owl...

Severus looked up, and sitting on the back of his chair was an eagle owl. He read the last of the document:

...This had better go through, that mudblood saw us in the woods, we are not sure if she thinks anything of it, but this better not be foiled by that damned potter and his abnormal friends.

Send word ASAP.

_LM_

Snape quickly flipped the letter over and wrote:

Lucius,

I don't think we should

He stopped and scribbled that out and instead wrote:

OK, midnight.

_SS_

He folded up the letter and attached it to the leg of the eagle owl, and watched it fly out the window.

Harry and Hermione fell asleep in a couch in the Hospital Wing, next to Ron's bed. There was nothing wrong with him, but he was severely depressed.

Harry woke up the next morning to find Hermione at Ron's bedside talking to him. She was talking quietly as not to disturb Harry while he was sleeping. They seemed to be arguing.

Harry pretended to be asleep and catch what they were saying.

"Ron, you can't, don't go doing something like that, she'll be OK, Dumbledore _will _find her!"

"I'm going to do it Hermione, and don't go thinking you can stop me, because you wont!"

"Ron! You can't kill your self.....what if Dumbledore finds her and brings her back, and she finds out what is she going to think? What about your mum? Your brothers, and dad? Harry? What about...." She trailed off into tears. "What about _me!_ I need you Ron! I love you."

Harry's eyes snapped open at that point, what had she said? He pretended he had just woken up.

"Hey, guys." He said.

"Oh, morning Harry, lets go." said Hermione grabbing Harry above the elbow and forcing him out of the hospital wing.

"Hermione! What are you doing?"

"I'll tell you later!" she snapped as she led him down the staircases to the great hall for breakfast and to pick up their schedules.


	4. Trusting Hermione

When she reached the staircase, she fell to her knees and started to cry.

"Hermione! What's wrong?" he asked lifting her up.

She turned into him and cried on his shoulder, "Oh Harry! Ron wants to kill himself, he thinks Ginny's dead! He won't try to see the bright side and look to the possibility that she _is_ alive!" she fell to the floor once again, bringing Harry with her. They sat there for a while, Hermione crying in Harry's arms.

"Miss Granger?" came a voice. "Potter, what's wrong with her?" It was professor McGonagall.

"Ron, he-well, you see, he, er, Professor? Ron wants to kill himself, he-"

"He, WHAT?" she shrieked. Hermione cried even harder. "You two go down to the Great Hall and fetch Dumbledore for me, while I go talk to Mr. Weasley."

They nodded and left down the Grand Staircase.

McGonagall burst through the doors and headed over to Ron's bed. "Mr. Weasley!" she snapped.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I was just told an interesting bit of information from your friends!" She spat. Her shouts echoed all the way down the corridors, and were heard by Dumbledore, as he headed up the stairs.

Ron wouldn't talk to either of them for the rest of the week. There was no news of Ginny, and Snape was still neglecting the plan. As much as he loathed Harry, he couldn't let him die.

After potions one afternoon he asked Hermione to stay back, the class oohed while they filed out of the dungeons and headed off to dinner.

"Sir?" she asked as she walked up to his desk. "Have I don't something wrong?"

"No Miss Granger, but there is something that I want to tell you." He sighed and sat down behind his desk.

"Y-yes, sir?"

"I-" he mumbled something.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that." She said softly.

He straightened up in his chair. "I need to know if I can trust you."

Hermione was taken aback with the question, but answered all the same. "You can trust me." She said.

He sighed once more. He was about to speak when an owl flew in the open window and landed in front of Snape, he reluctantly took the letter and opened it.

It read:

Severus,

I am waiting for Potter; the Dark Lord will not be pleased to find that you have gone soft on him!

You have tonight to bring him to me or else the girl dies, no questions asked!

LM

He sighed once more and tossed the letter to her, her eyes sped back and forth as she read the letter. Her eyes rested on the signature, "LM?" she read aloud, "Who-"she stopped. "Surely not-" she looked into Snapes' eyes and realized it was true. "Oh god! Ginny!" she whispered. She looked back at him anger in her eyes. "You knew!" he nodded. "You knew this whole time and you didn't do anything abou-" she stopped again. "That was Lucius Malfoy that I saw the day of the train wreck!"

"Excuse me, Miss Granger?" he asked

Hermione went into the story of what she saw the night of the train wreck. Just as she finished they heard a scream coming from the room above the dungeons. Forgetting their conversation they bolted up the steps and saw Ron lying face down in the middle of the Entrance Hall, surrounded by a pool of blood.


	5. The Death

"NOOOOOO! RON!" Hermione's shriek rang throughout the Hall. She ran to him, Harry on her heels. She fell beside him, begging him to wake up. The whole school had formed a ring around them, watching, waiting.

Hermione's cries echoed throughout the hall, "Ron, Ron please, don't do this. Why?" Professor McGonagall walked over to them and lifted Hermione up off her knees and had Snape usher her from the hall. Harry was still sitting there, dumbstruck. His best friend in the entire world, the first wizard friend he ever made was lying there, dying. He had to do something.

"_Do you mind? Everywhere else is full?"_

"_Not at all."_

"_I'm Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley."_

"_I'm Harry, Harry Potter!"_

It seemed like ages ago, but it was still fresh in his mind. He soon felt the hands of Professor McGonagall tugging Harry up as well, while a group of teachers had already gotten Ron on a stretcher and up the stairs to the Hospital Wing.

It was all in slow motion to Harry, his best friend being carried up the stairs, his eyes wide open in shock, the people around him crying. He looked to where McGonagall was leading and saw Hermione crying in Snape's arms. The two teachers led Harry and Hermione into Dumbledore's office. Where they all sat for what seemed like hours, which when Harry thought about it was only ten minutes. He looked around the office, it hadn't changed much since the last time her was in there, two years ago. Although the broken instruments were cleaned up and his desk had been moved, there were no real major changes.

Harry got lost in a train of thoughts again, he remembered the time Ron stuck up for him, the time Ron saved him form the Durslys in the flying car, the time Ron had gone into the Dark Forest even though he was afraid of spiders, and the time Ron and his family had taken He, Harry, to the Quidditch World Cup, and the time-

His thoughts once again were interrupted by Dumbledore coming through the door.

"Thank you Minerva, Severus, if you will so kindly go and check on Mr. Weasley, I would greatly appreciate it and report back." He said.

They both nodded and left, Dumbledore, moved to his chair and sat down.

"Sir- Will Ron be OK?" Asked Harry, he looked over at Hermione and saw that still had her face in her hands and was still crying, of course he didn't blame her, he was on the verge of tears himself.

Dumbledore sighed, "Mr. Weasley is at a stage, where we are unsure about what will happen to him." At that Hermione cried even harder. Dumbledore conjured up some tissues for her. Harry couldn't hold it in any longer; he grabbed some tissues as well.

Hermione stopped crying and looked up at Dumbledore, "Can we go see him?" she asked through soft sobs.

"I'm not sure if that would be a good idea." Sighed Dumbledore.

"Sir- please, he's out best friend, he-" He was interrupted by the door bursting open, making all three of them jump. It was Professor McGonagall.

"Albus! Quick! Something's wrong with him!" She gasped.

Harry and Hermione looked horrorstruck. Dumbledore leaped up and went to the door, stopped, then turned to them. "Stay here!" he said, then shut the door with a snap.

_Stay here? How can we just sit here when our best friend is dying? _Harry thought to himself. Without realizing it he was at the door, tugging with all of his might. Hermione just sat there staring at something Harry could not see, while tears leaked out of her eyes.

The sky outside got dark, quickly. It started to storm, as the minutes went by the storm got worse and worse. It was starting to reflect Harry's mood. Just as Harry sat back down the door opened once more and once again Dumbledore walked in. Both pairs of eyes shot up at him and one look told them everything they needed to know.

As Dumbledore sat down at his desk he sighed, his once twinkling light blue eyes were full of sadness, despair, and guilt.

He sighed, "I am sorry, but we lost him." A tear trickled out of the corner of his eye, Hermione burst into tears once again, and Harry sat there, shocked that he would never see Ron again.

Hermione got up and ran from the room, she wanted to be as far away from them as humanly possible. She then remembered that she was Head Girl and ran to her room and locked the door. She ran right past Draco, who was sitting in a chair reading a textbook and up the staircase to her room. She flopped on the bed and cried herself to sleep.

Harry sat in the chair in Dumbledore's office, for over 15 minutes, still shocked at what he had heard. He slowly got up and walked to the door and down the spiral staircase, and to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Hermione woke up the next morning dressed in her uniform, _had that been a dream? It had to be, that couldn't really happen._ She got up and looked in the mirror, _Oh no! My eyes are all puffy!_ "Ron!" she yelled.

She ran out the Heads Common Room and flew to the Gryffindor's Common Room. "Jellyshoes!" she gasped and ran up the boys' dormitory. _When I get up there I am going to see Ron asleep in his bed. _She told herself.

When she got there she saw Seamus, Dean, Neville, and Harry, in their beds. She ran over to Harry and woke him up. "Harry, was it real?"

He looked into her sad eyes and nodded.

They made their way down to the Great Hall some 20 minutes later. Nobody dared to look at them; the news of Ron had apparently spread throughout the school. Dumbledore made a speech about Ron after breakfast.

"We will all miss him, some more then others." he added shooting a look in Malfoy's direction. "On a lighter note I have something to tell you all. We will be playing host to an exchange student, her name is Arra and I hope you all treat her with respect and show her around the school." He clapped his hands twice and said, "Come on in Arra." The door to the side chamber next to the high table opened and a beautiful girl with long shiny black hair and green eyes came walking out. "She will be staying in the Head Girls Room and be in the Gryffindor house for her stay, you may take a seat at that table." He pointed in their direction and she gracefully made her way over to the table. She walked up the isles and saw Hermione's Head Girl pin and sat down next to her.

"Hello!" she said. She was unaware, that almost every single pair of eyes was on her.

Hermione merely smiled weakly. "You know guys, I'm not hungry, I'm going to head back to the Common Room."

"Oh, mind if I tag along? Ya know, get to know the castle more." Asked Arra.

"Sure."

Arra got up and followed her out of the hall.

Lessons that day were not the same, not without Ron. He made everything worth the while, made everyone laugh. Hermione and Harry noticed it when there was no one sitting in the seat Ron usually occupied.

"Professor?" asked Hermione one day after transfiguration lessons. "I can keep my mind on my work, I mean," her eyes swelled up with tears. "Its just not the same! I cant do this!" She fell to her knees and cried.

Harry sat with Hermione in her Head Girl Common Room and helped her study when Arra walked through the doors.

"Oh, Hello Harry!" she said smiling, Harry couldn't help noticing how perfect she was, her smile and teeth, her eyes, her hair, her everything.

"H-how did you know my name?"

She merely laughed. "You are the famous Harry Potter where I come from." Harry blushed.

Hermione scoffed and gathered up all of her belongings and ran to her bedroom.

"Did I upset her?"

"Its done easily these days." Said Harry.

"Look, I am terribly sorry about your friend, you know the one that-"

"DON'T!" yelled Harry. "Don't say it! If you say it, that will confirm it! And we don't want to deal with that right now, OK?"

Arra looked taken aback. "All I wanted to say was that I was sorry to hear about it- You know at my old school they told us how great you are, all the amazing stuff you did, but they never told us that you were such a brat! You don't care for anyone's feelings do you? I guess even the greatest of people can pretend to be something their not, and you Harry Potter are one of those people!"

She stormed up the stairs and out of sight.

Harry grabbed the nearest pillow and screamed into it.

((Where Ginny Is))

She opened her eyes and gazed around at her surroundings. She was in what looked like a cell. She looked down at her body, everything was there, two legs, two feet, she looked up, two arms and hands at the ends of each. She gave a sigh of relief, she was glad that she had all of her limbs.

She heard a faint clanking of keys and looked over at the door. Lucius Malfoy stalked in, with a huge smile on his face; in his right hand, he carried a cutting knife.

A shriek filled the air, in the distance birds left their perch and flew off into the dimming night sky.


	6. Love of Potions

_DripDripDrip_

Her blood slowly dripped from her wrists, it turned the floor red. Ginny looked up and immediately regretted it as the color drained from her face. She glanced down at the puddle of blood, there was way to much there, she wasn't going to live to see the next sunrise.

The door opened once more and Lucius Malfoy walked in again.

"How's my little prize?" he asked grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at him.

"Gets off of ME!" she yelled at him.

"Oh, someone's a little cranky today." He sneered, and then slapped her hard across her face.

Her head snapped to the right, she drooped her head. Tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"Maybe you'll think about talking to me like that again, wont you?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes, sir." She mumbled.

"That's better!" He unlocked her chains and she fell the remaining few feet to the floor and collapsed there. Breathing hard, she looked up at him, got all dizzy and fainted right there at his feet.

A snowy owl flew down with the rest of the other mail carriers one morning at breakfast, Harry patiently waited for the owl to land in front of him, instead it landed in front of Arra.

"Hedwig?" Harry asked, looking closer he saw that it was not his owl, so he looked up for her, she was not there. Sirius must not have sent him anything.

Arra took the letter from the owl and read it to herself.

Great Job! It is useful having you at Hogwarts. We made it this far, let's

Not forget the plan. This must be carried out!

She folded up the letter and stuffed it into her robe. "Excuse me." She said leaving the table and going to a private corner to write back.

She flipped over the piece of parchment and wrote:

Everything is going underway. No need to worry, don't stress your self out to much, I got Harry eating out of the palm of my hand...Tonight at dinner, I will give him the love potion!

She walked back over to the Gryffindor table and gave the note to the owl and it flew off.

"So, what class do we have first?" She asked.

"Potions." Said Hermione looking at their schedule. Harry moaned.

"Great! I love potions!"

"You won't after this class." Said Harry.

They headed down the dungeon stairs and came to a halt in front of the door.

"Harry?" Arra asked, grabbing Harry's arm. "Can I speak to you for a moment?" she asked. She led him to a corner of the dungeon. "Look, I'm sorry about yelling at you. I didn't mean it. I was just nervous with being new and wanting to fit in and everything. Can you forgive me?"

She looked deeply into his eyes and he couldn't say no.

"Yeah, I forgive you." He replied. She smiled and gave him a big hug. Just then the dungeon door open and Snape let them file in.

"Hello Professor!" she said smiling at him.

"Arra?" he asked.

"Yes."

"I need to speak to you outside." He held open the door for her and she stepped back outside. "Did you get your letter yet?"

"Yes, I got it at breakfast."

"Good. Now go in and take a seat." They walked through the door and Snape started his lesson.

An hour and a half later they were free of the smoky dungeons.

"That was exciting!" exclaimed Arra.

"Sure!" said Harry sarcastically.

The rest of the day went by slowly. And finally it was dinner time...


End file.
